NFL Playoff Schedule 2016: Predictions, Coverage Guide for Divisional Bracket

Just how much does Julian Edelman mean to the New England Patriots offense?

The defending Super Bowl champions will find out late Saturday afternoon when they take the field at Gillette Stadium against the streaking Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas City, which won its last 10 regular-season games before routing the Houston Texans 30-0 in the Wild Card Game, earned a memorable 41-14 victory over the Patriots last season. That Week 4 Monday night game led to head coach Bill Belichick's famous "We're on to Cincinnati" retort when he was asked why his team played so badly.

Obviously, much has changed since that game, but the Chiefs have been limiting their own mistakes, playing tough defense and doing enough with their special teams to warrant the Patriots' full attention.

The Patriots offense was not in top form during the latter part of the season. New England was 2-4 in the final six games, and the Patriots scored more than 24 points just once in that span.

Injuries to Dion Lewis, LeGarrette Blount, Danny Amendola, Rob Gronkowski and Edelman have hurt their ability to make big plays. While Amendola and Gronkowski returned to the lineup in the regular season, this will be Edelman's first game back since suffering a Jones fracture of the foot in Week 10 in a game against the New York Giants.

The Chiefs suffered a severe injury blow in their win over the Texans when top wide receiver Jeremy Maclin suffered a mild high ankle sprain. Maclin caught 87 passes for 1,088 yards during the regular season, and eight of those receptions went for touchdowns. Along with tight end Travis Kelce, Maclin gives the Chiefs a viable downfield passing game.

His status for the divisional playoff game has not been decided, but if he is not at his best, it will hurt the Chiefs' chances for pulling the upset over the Patriots.

The Patriots are 4.5-point favorites for this matchup, according to Odds Shark. Look for the Patriots to beat Andy Reid's Chiefs by at least seven points.

Game	Date, Time (ET)	TV	Point Spread	Prediction
Kansas City at New England	Jan. 16, 4:35 p.m.	CBS	NE (-4.5)	New England
Green Bay at Arizona	Jan. 16, 8:15 p.m.	NBC	Ariz. (-7)	Arizona*
Seattle at Carolina	Jan. 17, 1:05 p.m.	Fox	Car. (-2.5)	Carolina
Pittsburgh at Denver	Jan. 17, 4:40 p.m.	CBS	Den. (-6.5)	Denver*
				*-will win game, but not cover spread

The Arizona Cardinals have been waiting for their chance to get back to the playoffs since dropping a 27-16 decision in last year's Wild Card Round to the Carolina Panthers. The Cardinals were just a shell of themselves in that game because injuries robbed them of quarterback Carson Palmer and other key players.

Palmer and most of the Cardinals' key players are healthy this time around, and they enjoyed a stellar 13-3 regular season. One of the things that head coach Bruce Arians and his players will have to contend with this week is guarding against overconfidence.

The Cardinals (ranked first overall on offense and fifth in yards allowed) beat the Green Bay Packers 38-8 in Week 16, and that was clearly a one-sided victory. While the Packers followed that game with a loss to division-rival Minnesota in Week 17 that cost them the NFC North title, they rediscovered their offense in their wild-card victory at Washington.

In that game, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to 35 points after the team fell behind 11-0. Green Bay's offense has been out of sync most of the year, but if it found its rhythm against Washington and can continue to build off of that performance, this game should be much closer than the previous meeting.

However, that's not saying the Packers will win. The Cardinals are too talented on offense and effective on defense to let this game slip through their grasp.

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

If the Cardinals were consistently effective throughout the majority of the season, the Carolina Panthers were even better.

The NFC's top-seeded team won 14 games in a row to start the season and finished with a 15-1 regular-season record. Cam Newton is considered the leading candidate for the MVP award after throwing 35 touchdown passes and running for 10 more scores. 

While the Panthers don't have a slew of big-name receivers, tight end Greg Olsen caught 77 passes for 1,104 yards and seven touchdowns. Olsen has the ability to beat man-to-man coverage and make the tough catch in traffic.

The Panthers have an aggressive, tough and athletic defense led by linebackers Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis, along with cornerback Josh Norman.

The Carolina defense will get tested by Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, who were a much better team over the second half of the season than they were in the first.

The two-time defending NFC champions won six of their last seven regular-season games before edging Minnesota 10-9 last week. Wilson was on fire during the surge, compiling a 24-1 touchdown-interception ratio in Seattle's last seven regular-season games.

The belief here is that the Seahawks can give the Panthers a tight battle, but the resourceful Panthers will find a way to win.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

The Denver Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final divisional playoff game of the weekend. Both sides must overcome significant issues if they are to survive and advance.

The Broncos featured the top-rated defense in the league all season, but their offense was not close to what it had been in previous years.

Peyton Manning has been dogged by injuries and ineffectiveness, and while he played well after head coach Gary Kubiak put him back on the field in the second half of their season finale against San Diego, it's quite another thing to play well for 60 minutes (or more) in a playoff game against the aggressive Steelers.

Pittsburgh had no problems with its offense during the majority of the second half of the season, but Ben Roethlisberger (shoulder) and spectacular wide receiver Antonio Brown (concussion protocol) have injury issues heading into this game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

If either player can't go or is limited, it would make it difficult for the Steelers to win on the road against Von Miller (11.0 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries) and the aggressive Denver defense.

The Steelers are talented and hungry, but they are just too beaten up to come through. The Broncos find a way to win and will advance to the AFC Championship Game.